By Misty Huber, Jayplay writer
Photo by Joshua Kendall
thappens every year. December rolls around and looking at your dusty bookshelf and empty beer cans
around and looking at your dusty bookshelf and empty beer cans, you're having a little trouble getting into the holiday spirit. Holiday decorations are important to not only your festive spirit, but also your psychological health. It is so important that in 2002 NASA's psychological support team arranged for Christmas decorations to be sent onboard with the Expedition Eight crew. It was just a Christmas tree flag and a bow over a hatch, but decorations nonetheless.
Holly Jolly Jayhawks
It's time to replace the beer with cheer, or at least find a way to intermix the two. Follow this decorating guide and your friends will want to spend the season at your place.
When it comes to decorating for Christmas, you can do so much more than string popcorn and hang wreaths. Kathleen Wilson, editor of The Budget Decorator and thebudgetdecorator.com, recommends more creative approaches. Place a pillar candle in a bowl and fill it with a few glass balls and some sprigs of greenery or use cranberries and nuts. Add in Epsom salts for faux snow. However, if you'd like to have a home to decorate next year, don't light the candle.
Norroomfor tree? Pick up an evergreen garland and hang candy canes on it, or set up a smaller tree. Hobby Lobby Creative Center, 1801 W. 23rd St., sells
miniature trees along with hundreds of miniature ornaments. If you're really limited on space, wrap photo frames in gift wrap and put them back on the wall. Wilson also suggests sponging holiday shapes such as stars on your windows with acrylic craft paint mixed with a teaspoon of liquid dish soap. The paint comes off with window cleaner, she says.
Illuminate with the Festival of Lights
Anyone who has celebrated Hanukkah knows it can be trickier to decorate for. Outside of the menorah, you may feel lost for ideas. Samantha Zurber, Eden Prairie, Minn. freshman, says her family goes all
out decorating for the holiday, using decals of dreidels and menorahs on the windows and stringing lights with Jewish symbols. She says this season she'll be in
her residence hall and her decorating options seem more limited.
Even away from home you can bring the spirit in. Take advantage of the miracle of light theme by filling your space with candles. You can decorate them by gluing on jewels or gold coins.
You can also make your own dreidels, but if you don't want the mess of clay, use decorative paper. For a pattern, visit www.holidays.net/chanukah/pattern.html. Make a garland by taping them to string or ribbon and hanging them in front of a strand of holiday lights.
A Kan-Do Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa differs from Christmas and Hanukkah in that it is not a religious holiday, but an American festival honoring African Americans and their traditions. Dorthy Pennington, associate professor of African and African-American studies, says in a home celebrating Kwanzaa, she would expect to see a candelabra, called a kinara, holding red, black and green candles. The colors are very important, she says. They represent the colors of the
African-American flag that Marcus Garvey introduced in 1920.
Bring in the colors by using fabric with traditional African print the table where you will be setting up your display. Over the fabric, set a straw mat and adorn it with a bowl filled with real or artificial fruit to symbolize
Kwanzaa's harvest theme. Decorate your unity cup with jewels, beads or ribbon and add it to the mat. Surround your display with inspirational quotes, poems or sermons in red, black or green frames. And remember to set out an ear of corn for each of your roommates to represent hope for the future.
So start your own traditions this year and get in a festive mood a little early. Who knows? It may make studying for finals a little more jolly.
Damagecontrol
Controlled by Caffeine
Having trouble getting through the day without a coffee, soda or both? You have to kick the caffeine habit, my friend. It's best to start slowly. If you quit cold turkey, you'll probably just go back Reduce your caffeine intake during the course of a few weeks. If
you are a coffee drinker, try switching to decaf. And remember it may be the ritual of the coffee or soda that addicts you most. Substitute this ritual with something else just don't make it cappuccino.
Source: mothernature.com
— Stephanie Lovett
4
minute fix
Sweet and Salty
Don't throw out that over-seasoned dish just yet. For over-salted pickings, add a drop of lemon juice, vinegar or wine and a dash of sugar. Or, if it's too sweet for your palette, add a smidgen of salt and lemon juice. For sour dishes, adjust the flavor with salt and sugar. Perform your alternations gradually.
Source: ehow.com
Jayplay 12.2.04
— Megan Claus